Once upon a time, there was a young blonde eight-year-old girl named Elizabeth. She lived alone with her elderly sick grandmother. Her mom had died trying to get across the sea to retrieve the magical blue stone to cure her sick mother and Elizabeth’s father had spent every day after her mother’s disappearance searching for her. She always wore a necklace that her mom had gotten her as a gift before she left and it was a gold lock in which her mom had the matching gold key necklace. One day, Elizabeth’s grandma fell very ill. Elizabeth wept by her side and asked if there was anything she could do to help.
The grandmother said:
“In order to save my health
You must find a sparkling stone of blue,
It has magic within itself
And will be a cure for my illness too”
“You could find it deep within the sea,
along the island of deer,
which is where your missing mother may be
And the answer will be clear”
Elizabeth was taken by surprise. She had thought her mother had passed away, could this be true? Is her mother still alive? Elizabeth was so eager to help her sick grandmother that the next day she packed up her little boat and set out to sea in search of the stone. For three days she sailed and sailed. On the first day, she had arrived at an island full of eggs. Disappointed that it was not filled with deer, she kept on sailing until she reached an island filled with raccoons on the second day. Once again, she became more disappointed and left this island to keep sailing until she arrived at an island that to her looked as if it was filled with deer on her third day.
Excited that she had reached her destination, Elizabeth sailed her boat to shore. She got out, brought her little basket with her, and sat down to eat. As she rummaged through the basket, she found a loaf of bread and a small block of cheese. As she went to reach in, something of a bright red hue caught her eye. Curious, she picked it up to see that it was a mushroom with a note tied to it. She picked up the note and it read:
“I have left you this mushroom
Take a bite of it and see
Your journey will resume
And you can search the sea”
– Grandma
Confused by the letter, she tentatively took a bite out of the mushroom. She sat there for a few minutes and nothing had happened. She then became sad as she sat and thought about her sick grandmother, so she started to collect shells to bring home to her. As she walked along the shore, she bent down to pick up a shell, and when the water touched her hand she fell. She looked down at her legs and she saw bright blue flippers in place of her feet. She thought about her grandmother’s note and her message to her before she left. Suddenly, things started to become a little clearer.
Elizabeth went out into the ocean and started to swim with her new fins. As she put her head in the water, she realized that she was able to breathe underwater. Now she would be able to search within the sea for the stone. As she dove farther down into the sea she saw a very faint blue light. She swam through seaweed, fish, and coral to reach the light. Once she was there, she looked closer to see that it was the blue sparkling stone. As she touched it, she felt another hand on top of hers. The figure that the hand belonged to moved closer to her and with the little light from the stone, Elizabeth gasped as she realized that it was her mother. They both pulled for the small blue stone but it seemed to be stuck until her mother put the matching key necklace into her lock necklace, releasing the stuck stone from the ground. Together they collected the stone and returned home.
Once they arrived home, Elizabeth saw her father who had arrived three days earlier standing outside their home. Elizabeth and her mother rushed to land and returned to human form. All three of them embraced in a hug. The father then quickly ushered them inside to where the grandmother was lying sick in bed. Elizabeth then handed her the stone, and as she did, a blue light appeared in her grandmother’s palm. The stone’s magic began to work and quickly healed her grandmother. Elizabeth was overjoyed that her grandmother was healed and her family was reunited. They all lived happily ever after.
